Faculty Resources

To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself--that is the first duty of the educator

Maria Montessori

This section focuses on resources related to learning skills, habits, and attitudes that may be useful for faculty who want to augment their teaching to increase the student learning environment in their classrooms and laboratories and assist their students to do better in their courses.In addition to this list of resources, faculty ought to visit their campus learning support center and meet with its director for specific assistance in learning and study skills programs, materials, and services.

As an aid to faculty who want to complement their content teaching with some student learning assistance, here are some suggestions for course related handouts, study and learning background reading for faculty, and some listservs that may be useful as questions arise regarding student study skills and strategies. For how-to print materials that you may want to recommend to students or to have stocked in the campus bookstore, review the Learning Materials on this page. See also the resources under Learners.

For useful learning assistance listservs, see the Technology page.

The K. Patricia Cross Academy provides "practical lessons for passionate professors." Many of these can also be adapted for tutors and Supplemental Instruction leaders. https://kpcrossacademy.ua.edu

Stanford University Teaching Commons has several Featured Teaching Guides including an Artificial Intelligence Teaching Guide, an Inclusive Teaching Guide, and a Disruption Preparation Guide.

Infographic: Roles for Faculty

Six Roles for Faculty in Student Success, from the education consulting firm EAB.

Position Paper: Role for Faculty in Tutoring and Learning Centers

Aschenbach, C., Blake, T., Gavaskar, V., Sanchez, R. M., & Whetzel, T. (2021). The role of faculty in tutoring and learning centers in the community college. Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. Retrieved from https://www.asccc.org/sites/default/files/publications/ASCCC_Position_Paper_2021_Tutoring_220315_epub.pdf

Background Reading for Faculty Interested in Learning and Study Skills

Flippo, R. F. & Bean, T. W. (Eds). (2018). Handbook of college reading and study strategy research (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Learning Assistance Internet Resources for Faculty

K. Patricia Cross Academy - Practical Lessons for Passionate Professors.

Returning to and Finishing College: Tips, Resources & Advice for the Re-entry Student AffordableCollegesOnline.org

Back to School: A Guide to Continuing Your Education after Prison, US Department of Education

Links and Resources for the Nontraditional Student (Missouri Department of Higher Education)

Frick, T. What is Plagiarism at Indiana University? Or see this YouTube video.

How Not to Plagiarize (Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, University of Toronto)

Culatta, R. (2020). It's Time to Learn InstructionalDesign.org

Plagiarism.Org (sponsored by turnitin)

Eleanour Snow, Teaching Students about Plagiarism: An Internet Solution to an Internet Problem.

Readability Levels

Readability Formulas. To assess the readability of writing, one can use a number of formulas that will indicate the relative ease or difficulty of the material. Three formulas are considered useful for faculty to determine the readability of books and articles: Fry’s Graph, Dale-Chall Formula, and the Gunning Fox Index. You can choose to explore these formulas below.

ReadabilityFormulas.com is a non-commercial “passion project” created by freelance writer Brian Scott. The website offers free information and tools to understand readability formulas. It provides help to: 1) score your texts (documents, books, policies, technical materials, etc.) and 2) find the reading level and grade level that readers need to read and comprehend your text.

You can also use a free readability web page tool that has you insert a block of text and it score readabilty levels on the following scales (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning-Fog Score, Coleman-Liau Index, SMOG Index, Automated Readability Index) and provides an average score.

Readable.com "is an online toolkit [paid] that helps writers everywhere improve their readability and bring their audience closer."

Gunning Fog Index

Flesch Readability Test – this can be set to use MS Word or Outlook to check a block of textbook text, or your own documents for readability.

Learning Materials

This resource section is divided into areas of learning and study skills improvement materials. Materials are specific to a skill and only include audiovisual, CAI, and web materials. NOTE: For diagnostic instruments (tests and surveys), go to Learner Assessment.

Learning Materials Resources for:

Academic Coaching

Certification and Training

Association for the Coaching and Tutoring Profession

ACTP (a member of CLADEA) offers training and certifications for individual academic coaches and for programs.

LifeBound

LifeBound is a website that informs users about the company’s high-impact training with institutions on academic coaching. Their overall goal is to train administrators and faculty on necessary communication and professional skills that will guide their coaching work. The website also publishes resources for both secondary and postsecondary students.

Board Certified Coach (BCC)

The Center for Credentialing Education offers many credentials; specific to academic coaching professionals is the Board Certified Coach option. Someone who holds a BCC certification has met their training requirements, obtained experience in the field, and passed a coaching-specific examination, among other requirements.

JST Coaching - Academic Success Coaching for Higher Education

JST is named after founder Jodi Sleeper-Triplett. She is an authority in the coaching field, especially on coaching students with AD/HD. The site has many different focuses, but this page provides information to academic coaching in higher education. This site has an overview packet on training academic coaches that could be helpful when creating a new training program.

UTSA Academic Coaching Manual

University of Texas San Antonio offers an extensive Academic Coaching Manual. This manual has been developed for training of the learning center’s own academic coaches but is available to others via this link. The manual includes sections on defining academic coaching, theories that guide coaching, study skills and resources, and many more ideas.

Coaching Resources

Understanding Differences Between Coaching and Advising

InsideTrack is a website that offers academic coaching systems to postsecondary institutions. The page at this link explains the differences between academic advising and academic coaching and how each service can benefit students. It is important for coaches to remember they are not advisors but rather provide an academic support system for students.

LASSI for Learning Online (LLO)

LLO = Learning and Study Strategies Inventory For Learning Online
"LASSI has been improving students’ study strategies for more than 30 years. LASSI has a new edition specifically designed to meet the challenges of online instruction."

Advising as Coaching

Another site that covers the connections between academic advising and coaching is presented by NACADA (formerly National Academic Advising Association; now The Global Community for Academic Advising). This page covers the advising model and then the coaching model and compares and contrasts the two. It also covers important topics both advisors and coaches should keep in mind, such as active listening.

Developing an Academic Coaching Program

The article hosted on this site encourages medical educators to develop new academic coaching programs for their medical students, but anyone developing a coaching program could utilize the information provided here. The authors have experience in undergraduate medical education coaching programs.

Resources from the University of Washington

The University of Washington provides an excellent website of resources for students. They offer links to resources such as study skills, time management, notetaking, and test taking.

Cornell Note Taking

Cornell Note Taking is a venerable note taking method for college students developed by Walter Pauk, formerly of Cornell University. The site presents the Cornell system clearly. This may be a helpful resource for academic coaches who want to help students overcome difficulties related to ineffective note taking.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is an excellent supplemental resource for college students in math courses. Academic coaches who lack a strong understanding of math may use it to build their own understanding, as well as introducing this resource to students. Coaches will also want to be aware of how students are using the site so they may recommend campus tutoring services, as well.

Mint

Mint allows users to keep track of their bills and spending habits. Academic coaches who want to brush up on their understanding of finances will find Mint useful. They can also introduce their students to the site for some excellent guidance.

Freedom

Freedom is an excellent resource for academic coaches who want to help students avoid being distracted by their phone or social media on their laptop. Freedom lets users block all social media websites for a set amount of time. Students can use this tool to prevent distractions, study in planned increments, and schedule study breaks.

Students Toolbox: Exam Study Kit

This exam study kit was created to help students prioritize and stay organized during busy semesters. This has been a very successful tool for academic coaches to use during meetings with students who need help to plan and prioritize study times during stressful periods such as midterms or finals. The initial host, studentoolbox.com, seems to have expired, however, the Toolbox is still available via this file.

Coaching Special Populations

Coaching Students With AD/HD
Quinn, P. O., Ratey, N. A., & Maitland, T. L. (2005). Coaching college students with AD/HD: Issues and answers. Advantage Books.

A huge part of adjusting to college is managing newfound freedom while making time to study and catch up on course work; however, for students with AD/HD all of this can prove to be very difficult. Author Patricia Quinn covers this topic in her book, which is designed with an issue/answer format. This is a resource that could provide training for academic coaches learning to provide appropriate responses when working with students with AD/HD.

Resources for College Students With AD/HD

The Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) hosts an array of resources on their website that students with AD/HD may find helpful. The site offers resources on time management and, how to study, and even provides advice from students with AD/HD who were successful in college. Any of these resources would be helpful for academic coaches who work with these students as well as for the students themselves.

Academic Coaching Programs for Students With Disabilities

Finding resources on academic coaching that include students with disabilities can be difficult. However, this article covers a study done at a 4-year institution on the topic of academic coaching and students with disabilities. The study found that academic coaching is making a positive difference for students with disabilities who participate in the coaching program.

Online Academic Coaching

It is common for community colleges to have a high population of commuter students. Students who do not live on campus can still participate in academic coaching online. By offering online academic coaching, an institution can reach out to students who have full-time jobs or families that keep them busy. This article by The Center for Credentialing & Education covers ideas on online academic coaching.

Resources for International Students

NACADA (formerly National Academic Advising Association; now The Global Community for Academic Advising) offers a site with many resources that could be helpful to academic coaches of international students. Coaches may want to read up on current legislation affecting international students or peruse NACADA’s resources discussing the struggles and challenges international students may face and tips on how to work with these students.

Study Skills

Study Skills Resources on the Internet

Learning Skills Resources from University of Central Florida Student Academic Resource Center [handouts and videos]

Kiosk guides for learning (formerly Study Guides and Strategies) are a freely accessible educational environment that offers strategies to recognize and realize learning objectives, by Joe Landsberger. Provides 196 guides for learning in English with 1040 translations into 38 languages.

Metacognitive Study Strategies from UNC Chapel Hill Learning Center

Study Skills in STEM from the Institute of Mathematics & Its Applications

Study Guide Zone (Preparation materials and tips for many tests from Accuplacer to Texas Higher Education Assessment) Prep for the following areas: Business Tests, Financial Tests, Graduate Tests, Vocational Tests, Insurance Tests, Primary/Secondary Tests, Medical Tests, Undergraduate Tests, Teacher Tests, College Tips, and Study Tips.

Reading

Adler, M.J. (1967). How to read a book: The art of getting a liberal education. Simon & Schuster.

Agee, K. (2003, Spring). Why university students don’t read textbooks (and what we can do to help). NCLCA Newsletter, 2 -4.

Blue, T. (2003, March 14). I don’t know HOW to read this book! The Irascible Professor. http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-14-03.htm

Boyd, D.R. (n.d.). Using textbooks effectively: Getting students to read them. Teaching Resources, Association for Psychological Science. Retrieved from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/teaching/tips/tips_0603.cfm

Henderson, C., & Rosenthal, A. (2006, July/August). Reading questions: Encouraging students to read the text before coming to class. Journal of College Science Teaching, 35(7), 46-50. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42992459

Hobson, E. H. (2004). IDEA paper #40: Getting students to read: Fourteen tips. Retrieved from https://www.ideaedu.org/idea_papers/getting-students-to-read-fourteen-tips/

McLaughlin, G.H. (2006). SMOG: Simple measure of gobbledygook (Readability Calculator). Retrieved from https://readabilityformulas.com/smog-readability-formula.php

McLay, B. (2006, September). Reading textbooks using PARROT. The Learning Center Exchange. http://www.learningassistance.com/2006/printables/parrotprint.html
P = Preview, A = Attend, R = Read, R = Review, O = Organize, T = Test

Mulcahy-Ernt, P. I., & Caverly, D.C. (2018). Strategic study-reading. In R. A. Flippo & T. W. Bean (Eds.), Handbook of college reading and study strategy research. Routledge. (3rd ed., pp. 191-214).
Over 150 references at end of chapter.

Nilson, L. B. (n.d.). Getting students to do the readings: Imagine what you could do in class if almost all of your students did the readings! Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/34689.htm

Simpson, M. L., Stahl, N. A., & Francis, M. A. (2004). Reading and learning strategies: Recommendations for the 21st century. Journal of Developmental Education, 28(2), 2-4, 6, 8, 10-12, 14-15, 32. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42775902

Stahl, N. A., Simpson, M. L., & Hayes, C. G. (1991). How college learning specialists can help college students (ED334571). ERIC Digest:. Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills. ERIC. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=ED334571

Writing

Online Writing Textbooks and Lessons

Writing Commons
This award-winning website offers regularly updated information for writers on the writing process, research methods, and information literacy. The website’s primary purpose is to serve as an open-access writing and research textbook for college students, but it is written with a lay audience in mind. The main menu guides users to different approaches and components of professional and academic writing as well as guides to genre writing and writing for different disciplines, purposes, and contexts. Further resources are also provided on information literacy, research methodologies, and how to write and research in professional fields.

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
This is an award-winning online writer’s guide and handbook with information for writers at any level. The site synthesizes theories and texts — from classical Greek philosophers to current pedagogical practices — to provide students with ideas for writing in different contexts and at different stages of writing. Information is offered in an easy-to-use website that provides information for where the writer is in the writing or research process. Each section of the site provides writers with questions to ask themselves during the writing process and activities to engage in to help solidify their understanding.

Ted-Ed Lessons: Writing/Composition
A curated collection of video-based lessons, developed by educators from across the globe, on topics about writing, composition, the English language, and English literature. New videos are added routinely and provide writers of all levels with information and activities on these topics in an informal, thought-provoking, and clear style.

Genre and Writing in Discipline Resources

Writing in the Disciplines
Writing assignments are often used to support the goals of Writing in the Disciplines (WID), also called writing to communicate. Writing assignments of this sort are designed to introduce or give students practice with the writing conventions of a discipline and to help them game familiarity and fluency with specific genres and formats typical of a given discipline. For example, the engineering lab report includes much different information in a format quite different from the annual business report.

Guidelines for Preparing a Research Report
UT Chattanooga.

What is an Annotated Bibliography, How to Write One
This video provides an easy-to-learn approach toward annotated bibliographies. The resource offers a definition and purpose of an annotated bibliography, breaking down its organization by content, illustrating ways in which to find information, and elaborating on what genre rules and style conventions a writer should attend to.

The Complete Guide to Atomic Notetaking: The Zettelkasten Method?
The Zettelkasten ("slipbox" in German) Method is a research note-taking method developed by prolific sociologist Niklas Luhmann. This may be most appropriate to those in graduate degree programs intending a scholarly research career. See also the book How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers by Sönke Ahrens (available on Amazon).

Writing Strategies Resources

Stages of the Writing Process
Purdue OWL. Writing can’t be done without going through certain stages. All writers go through their own unique writing processes before they make their final drafts.

Student Interactives
This website provides interactive tools for K-12 students to use during any stage of the writing process. Various interactive worksheets, activities, and learnings strategies are offered to help writers based on whether they want to prewrite, plan research, analyze and synthesize knowledge, or organize their knowledge. Other interactive activities focus on language literacy. All activities and information on the website align with guidelines and standards of the International Literacy Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.

150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively
This list of 150 resources is provided for writers of all levels with the goal of improving their writing. The writing resources include how-to writing blogs, information about writing as intellectual property, various citation and style help websites, different grammar and English usage resources, professional and academic writing websites, writing productivity software comparisons, and more.

A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
This website provides a list of rhetorical devices used by writers to convey information. The organization of the website is based on definition, purpose, and how the rhetorical device may be used within writing.

Style and Grammar Resources

The Purdue OWL
This website provided a guide on how to use the Online Writing Lab (OWL) of Purdue University. The OWL is a comprehensive and detailed resource tackling many topics about writing and style useful in most academic and professional contexts. The OWL is primarily used around the world as a quick reference guide for the different writing style books. Rather than specific links to each OWL resource, this website guides writers to navigate to very specific writing, research, and education-specific resources provided on the website. The Purdue OWL is now updated for APA 7.

The Excelsior OWL
The Excelsior OWL is an award-winning open education resource with more than a thousand pages of content to support college-level writing and reading skills. It features rich, interactive multimedia and even a video game, Paper Capers. The OWL covers traditional essay writing skills, such as The Writing Process, Rhetorical Styles, Argument & Critical Thinking, Research, Citation & Documentation, Plagiarism, and Grammar. It also has specialized content areas devoted to Online Writing and Presentations, ESL, and Reading Comprehension. There is an Educator Resource Guide for instructors. The OWL’s latest initiative is focused on Writing in the Disciplines.

APA Style Blog
This website continues to provide updated information and blog-style articles related to the American Psychological Association Style Manual. While other websites provide easily searchable style information, the APA Style blog was created to give updated information. Its primary purpose is to give informal help on specific style and discipline-specific usage. Information on errata, clarifications, and other APA-style-related articles are also provided routinely.

MLA Works Cited: A Quick Guide
This visual reference gives writers an easy-to-understand model for creating and referencing information in MLA writing.Analyzing an MLA works-cited entry, the guide explains the rationale for each element. Finally, a practice template divided by style-specific punctuation helps writers master how to cite different sources.

CMOS Shop Talk: From the Chicago Manual of Style
This blog provides relevant articles and up-to-date information about Chicago Style guidelines. The blog is divided into three sections. Specific blog entries specify how esoteric sources may be cited and referenced in Chicago. Other blog articles give information on errata, updates, and other relevant information about the Chicago Style. The blog also offers articles on grammar and word usage, writing for publication, and interviews and talks with editors and publishers. For writers interested in worksheets, the blog also includes hands-on syntax and grammar workouts that let writers learn and test themselves on discipline-specific grammar and punctuation rules.

Plain Language
This website, created by a government coalition called The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), provides the specific style guidelines and templated documents for writing for government. The website resources are broken down by the applicable legal regulations, example documents, blank templates in different word and web formats, the definition of plain language, and the different guidelines offered to write in plain language style. Online workshops, in-person workshops, and external language resources are offered from different members of the PLAIN coalition.

Grammar Girl
This award-winning website provides blog articles attached to topical short podcasts on a variety of writing issues. The site is helpful to writers of all levels as they approach grammar, seemingly esoteric or confusing English rules, colloquial expressions, and context-specific use of words and communication.

Mathematics

West Texas A & M U Virtual Math Lab Welcome to the West Texas A&M University Virtual Math Lab! If you need help in College Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, Beginning Algebra, Math for the Sciences, or preparing for the math part of the general GRE, THEA or ACCUPLACER test, you have come to the right place. Note that you do not have to be a student at WTAMU to use any of these online tutorials. They were created as a free service to anyone who needs help in these areas of math

Mathispower4u.com by James Sousa provides a multitude of video tutorials on all aspects of math from fractions to calculus and beyond. These videos are licensed under a Creative Commons license that allows sharing and adaptation for any purpose. Also available on YouTube channel Mathispower4u. Now available in Spanish at YouTube channel Mathispower4u Español

Success in Mathematics – Math Study Skills Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania

That Quiz – a set of timed quizzes..

Dyslexia - a brief article in Mathematics TODAY by a mathematics student with dyslexia.

COMMERCIAL RESOURCES:

Academic Success Press, Paul Nolting

ALEKS, a commercial web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system for math, statistics by McGraw-Hill, http://www.aleks.com/

H&H Publishing offers the following online math courses:

Arithmetic, An Individualized Approach
Elementary Algebra, An Individualized Approach
Intermediate Algebra, An Individualized Approach
Trigonometry, An Individualized Approach
PreCalculus, An Individualized Approach
Differential Calculus, An Individualized Approach
Beginning Algebra, An Individualized Approach

Overcoming Math Anxiety by Sheila Tobias

Succeed with Math by Sheila Tobias

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Texts and Videos for Students

College and University Students
This website provides several resources on how to think critically in college. Aside from providing a glossary of terms that are integral to critical thinking, this website also offers a detailed guide on how to study and learn effectively while using critical thinking skills.

The Foundation for Critical Thinking
This nonprofit organization promotes educational reform via critical thinking. They provide books, pamphlets, videos, a blog, conferences and other events, and other resources for faculty and learning center staff.

Barbara Oakley: “Learning How to Learn” | Talks at Google
This video of a lecture by a scholar in STEM education analyzes how to learn. Many of the tips and techniques are noteworthy resources for adult learners faced with content matter with which they are not familiar. The video uses personal examples and specific tips and tricks. Math education is offered as a context for better learning by implementing creative and analytical thinking skills rather than rote memorization.

The Rhetorical Situation
These are several chapters of an open-source book that teach students how to apply different writing strategies critically. The chapters provide techniques and worksheets to analyze writing prompts and readings based on specific questions, relationships, and external factors.

Rationality: A-Z
This website provides a comprehensive resource on how anyone can approach critical thinking as an evidence-based practice by relying on empirical research, studies on human rationality and learning, and rationalist philosophy. The website presents itself as an open-source series of books that are informed by philosophy, educational practice, and research in varied scientific fields.

Top 10 Online Resources to Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills!
A YouTube video to help "you find the best tools to hone your critical thinking abilities? The digital age offers a plethora of online resources designed to enhance these skills, making it easier than ever to access high-quality educational materials at your convenience."

Faculty Resources on Critical Thinking

Ask the Cognitive Scientist: How Can Educators Teach Critical Thinking?
How does the mind work—and especially how does it learn? Teachers’ instructional decisions are based on a mix of theories learned in teacher education, trial and error, craft knowledge, and gut instinct. Such knowledge often serves us well, but is there anything sturdier to rely on?

What is critical thinking?
Monash University Australia

Critical Thinking Activities and Techniques

Criteria for Evaluating Web Resources
This website provides information on how anyone may critically evaluate online resources. Information is provided to help assess web resources based on objectivity, accuracy, relevance, usability, and credibility.

Critical Thinking Lessons
From TED Ed: A curated collection of video lessons that provide riddles, unique problems, and situations from various disciplines. Viewers are asked to use logic, critical thinking, and other resources to solve problems and increase their own skills.

Mind Mapping: Improve Test Scores and Enhance Critical Thinking
This website article provides students with information about mind-mapping. The resource provides a definition of mind-mapping and then shows how it can help improve student success and enhance critical thinking. Resources and techniques show how a student may use a mind map and how it is most effective.

Vocabulary Development

A Study on College English Vocabulary Teaching by Aihong Yuan

A New Way to Help Students Learn Course Vocabulary by Maryellen Weimer

The Impact of Vocabulary on Numeracy by Paul Swan

A Word a Day with Anu Garg

Content Assistance

One of the most useful websites that maintains a great list of content resources is Lucy MacDonald’s howtostudy.org At its home page, choose “Resources” at the home page and scroll down to ” How to Study… and How to Write” where you can find content resources arranged alphabetically from Accounting to Theater.

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY

Inner Body interactive human anatomy

BIOLOGY

Biology dictionary
Biology-Online.org Free Biology and Life Science Resource

CHEMISTRY

MICROBIOLOGY

Cells Alive! By Jim Sullivan—It has been a pleasure and privilege providing CELLS alive! for thirty years. Its online presence may have ended but an offline version of the site is available below free of charge. To date, over 500,000 copies have been downloaded. But they will be unavailable after December 15, 2025. The offline version is a complete working site, including Ouch!, the burping macrophage, interactive animations (Cell Model, Mitosis, HowBig?), matching games, and jigsaw puzzles. Instructions for installation on your computer are in the 78mb ZIP download. Install it on classroom computers or share copies of the ZIP file with others. The online CELLS alive! was always free. Sharing the offline site with others should be free as well.

PHYSICS

LSCHE

Learning Support Centers in Higher Education

Support

Where to Start in LSCHE If Your Role Is

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